US ESTA passport info wrong????

[King Herald]

I applied for an ESTA for the wife and daughter a couple of months ago, we double checked all input info together, confirmed, printed out, approved, no problem.

They are flying early Tuesday morning, so the wife was double checking all the papers and noted the expiry date on her passport on the ESTA is totally wrong, nothing like any date on any of their passports. (they are both dual nationality UK and Philippines)

It is Sunday morning where we live and on the US websites advice we just cancelled her ESTA and applied for a new one.....

Hopefully it will be approved on time, but how the hell can a whole passport expiry date change like that?????

I'd be very, very doubtful that I typed in some totally random date and we both checked it as good from her passport.

And I hope to hell they work weekends at DHS, or wife and co are not flying on Tuesday morning. We're 12 hours ahead of USA.

Edited by King Herald on Sunday 17th July 04:47

[King Herald]

Well blow me down backward with a broken deckchair, the new ESTA has been approved in less than six hours. Saturday night in the USA right now.....

The other problem is the daughter has had an ear ache and a 'blocked' ear since our last flight, from England a week ago, so not sure if she can fly yet.



Jeeez...I just want some peace and quiet in the house for a few weeks.

[eliot]

I did my first esta a couple of months ago and it was approved on the spot.

[King Herald]

I'm not sure if somebody eyeballs each one individually, or if it is computerised and automatic. Maybe they have certain triggers that get flagged, like ticking YES to any of those special questions......

[boxst]

You may still get pulled at immigration and perhaps asked why you applied, what is the other one, etc....

I had my passport stolen nearly three years ago and have two ESTAs (new and old passport). I get to visit the little secondary security room every time I go to the US (which is just over monthly), very annoying.

[s70rmp]

eliot said:

I did my first esta a couple of months ago and it was approved on the spot.

we've done a number of them over the years and always approved on the spot. Never heard of any one having to wait for approval.

[davepoth]

s70rmp said:

eliot said:

I did my first esta a couple of months ago and it was approved on the spot.

we've done a number of them over the years and always approved on the spot. Never heard of any one having to wait for approval.

The initial test is automatic, and very basic (terror watch lists etc.) so it does it automatically. What probably happened to the OP was that it went into a "this one's a bit weird" queue, and had to be approved by an actual person - but since there was nothing too weird about it they let it through.

As was said above, expect a bit more questioning when you arrive at the other end. Nothing to worry about though.

[RammyMP]

I work with a chap who cocked his initial application up, realised at the desk in the US, applied online (on his phone) for a new one, it was approved on the spot and he carried on through customs. I was amazed!

[King Herald]

s70rmp said:

we've done a number of them over the years and always approved on the spot. Never heard of any one having to wait for approval.

I don't get this 'on the spot' thing. You put the application in, they acknowledge it has been submitted and that it could take up to 72 hours to be approved, so check back at their web page. I did that five hours later and it was approved.

Of course, it could have been approved five minutes after we applied, I don't know.

We had an email telling us it had been submitted the first time we sent them in, but nothing arrived this time.

[King Herald]

davepoth said:

The initial test is automatic, and very basic (terror watch lists etc.) so it does it automatically. What probably happened to the OP was that it went into a "this one's a bit weird" queue, and had to be approved by an actual person - but since there was nothing too weird about it they let it through.

As was said above, expect a bit more questioning when you arrive at the other end. Nothing to worry about though.

It is my wife ESTA, not mine. But being dual nationality, and having already applied not long ago, it probably triggered a red flag or two.

I have applied for ESTA twice myself, but I can't remember how it proceeded as I had work visa for USA too at the time. Now that makes for some interesting immigration time when passing through USA en route to somewhere else.......

Two hours waiting in 'that little room':

Him "but sir, you indicated you are entering on your ESTA when you also have an OCS visa, so what ARE you doing here"

Moi "I am passing through, en route to Mexico, like I told the immigration officer, when I showed him my detailed itinerary and onward flight details and letter from my employer and invitation letter from Mexican government, and support letter from Tex Mex oil company....."

Him "Oh, okay sir, you have a nice day"

[Andehh]

My estas were approved within 4 hours very early one Sunday morning, damn good job seeing as we were flying into Dublin not being sure if we would continue our honeymoon to San Francisco when we landed! What a fking awful morning that was.

[eliot]

King Herald said:

I don't get this 'on the spot' thing.

For me i get to the end of the quesionare and press submit, i wait 30 seconds or so and it says approved.

[schmalex]

99% of ESTAs are approved within 15 minutes or so. Unfortunately, mine was denied on both of my passports, meaning we had to do some interesting manoeuvring whilst transiting to Central America on holiday at Easter. All's fine now, as I have managed to get a visa, but it was a real PITA at the time.

[King Herald]

eliot said:

King Herald said:

I don't get this 'on the spot' thing.

For me i get to the end of the quesionare and press submit, i wait 30 seconds or so and it says approved.

Did you have to go in and check, or did it pop up on the screen as approved?? I never bothered checking any sooner as I assumed it would get the typical paranoid American grilling and fine tooth-comb treatment.

[eliot]

King Herald said:

eliot said:

King Herald said:

I don't get this 'on the spot' thing.

For me i get to the end of the quesionare and press submit, i wait 30 seconds or so and it says approved.

Did you have to go in and check, or did it pop up on the screen as approved?? I never bothered checking any sooner as I assumed it would get the typical paranoid American grilling and fine tooth-comb treatment.

it said it on the screen after i had paid - almost seemed too quick, so i saved the approval details just in case. No issues on arrival.

[King Herald]

eliot said:

it said it on the screen after i had paid - almost seemed too quick, so i saved the approval details just in case. No issues on arrival.

Hmmm, and yes, I too get paranoid about that sort of thing. It says you don't need a copy as it is all on-line, but I know a couple of guys who have had grief because there's had 'disappeared' when they were flying somewhere and the airline didn't believe they had the right to enter the USA.

[Dave Brand]

The five ESTAs I've applied for have all been approved immediately.

[King Herald]

Anyway, they got through US immigration okay.